


The Truth of Roanoke

by bellefan123



Series: Supernatural History [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Gen, Historical Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-10 08:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15945149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellefan123/pseuds/bellefan123
Summary: Eleanor Dare and the other colonists of Roanoke are eager to start a new life in the New World. However, Eleanor is plagued with nightmares, and eventually notices some off occurrence taking place in the fledgling colony. Fearing of the life of her husband and infant daughter, she begins to investigate this occurrences, little does she know that they are the result of an evil she cannot even imagine. (originally posted on Tumblr, but moved on to this database)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally made the first two chapters on Tumblr, however I am moving my fanfic writing to here!

July 20, 1587

           115 English colonists were on their way to the greatest adventure anyone could imagine. They were on their way to establish a colony in the New World. Little was known of this New World, and rumors of mythic creatures, as well as cities of gold dominated most of the knowledge people had of the Americas. In fact, the only other English settlement thus far, was a small contingent of men who were left at a sight known as Roanoke. They had been left there by a previous expedition, and the party of colonists, led by John White, were supposed to pick up this group of men, on their way to Chesapeake Bay.

           The party, only 17 of which were women, hoped to attain freedom and riches from establishing a permanent settlement in the New World. One of these women was Eleanor Dare. Eleanor was the daughter of John White, and the wife of Ananias Dare. She was also heavily pregnant. So much so, that many people feared that she may give birth on the voyage there. However, their navigator, Simon Fernandez, claimed they were only a few days from reaching the New World.

           The conditions on the boat were not ideal, but it was made bearable for Eleanor because she was with her husband and father. Eleanor, like many of the other colonists, were hoping that the New World could grant them a better life, but most of well, they were ready to get off this boat.

On this night, the sea was calm, and Eleanor slept soundly next to her husband. Soon, her slumber was disrupted by a pitter-patter, which sounded as if it were raining. Her eyes squeezed shut, she stirred in her sleep as the rain began to get louder. Soon she thought she heard a horse galloping in the distance, and it was soon joined by more horses. Then a loud crack of thunder woke her up.

           She sat up and looked over at her husband, who was still sleeping soundly. She stood up and gently walked past the other passengers, and noticed none of them had woken up either. She slowly made her way up to the deck to look across the water. Of course, Eleanor knew the horses were in her dreams, but she was hoping to see some storm clouds somewhere on the horizon, that would explain what she’d heard. It had sounded so real, as if the ship were in the middle of the storm. Alas, there was nothing, just darkness, and the soft sound of the waves hitting the boat.

           Perhaps the scariest part, was this was not the first time this happened to her. She had been having dreams like this constantly on the voyage, only to wake up and find that the skies were clear. She sighed to herself before turning to go back below deck, but as she walked, one of the floorboards squeaked and made a strange sound. Eleanor stopped in her tracks and examined the board. As she slowly pressed her weight on it again, it squeaked again and made the same strange sound, almost like whispering. She kept pressing on the floorboard trying to hear the message, and eventually she heard the word “Croatoan”. Eleanor was unfamiliar with this word, and thought perhaps she had heard wrong.

           Before she could press the floorboard again, she heard a familiar voice, “Eleanor? What on earth are you doing?”

Eleanor looked up and saw her father, standing before her. “Oh, father, I was just…” She paused. She could see it in his face, what he was thinking. To be honest, Eleanor was thinking the same thing. Eleanor’s mother, Agnes, had begun getting nightmares when Eleanor was a little girl. After years of slowly going crazy, mentioning fictional creatures, such as lizard people, or evil horsemen, Agnes eventually killed herself. Eleanor always knew her father feared the same thing would happen to her. “I suppose I am nervous, and I can’t sleep.”

John nodded to his daughter, but Eleanor knew he was still thinking about her mother. “Being nervous is ok, but there is no need to take it out on the floor board,” He said with a small laugh. “Please, get some rest, you will need it. We will be arriving soon, and exhaustion is bad for your child.”

Eleanor accepted her father’s words, before returning downstairs to go back to her husband. However, when she laid down to go to sleep, she could not get that word out of her head. ‘Croatoan.”


	2. Chapter 2

July 22, 1587

Eleanor ignored her dreams, and even the strange things she was hearing. She did not want people to think she was going crazy like her mother, so she kept these strange occurrences to herself. The anxiety of the journey mixed with the cabin fever from this boat voyage had to be causing it, or at least she hoped thats what it was. Above all else she was ready to reach land and give birth to her child. She knew that landing would not solve all her problems, because they would be landing in an uncivilized world, but anything was better than staying on this boat. 

A good distraction she had discovered on the boat was journaling. Writing down all the events of her day really made the time go by faster, and it also granted her an opportunity to clear her mind to try and determine the truth behind her dreams and hallucinations. On this very day while journaling, she was interrupted when she heard someone above deck call out, “Land Ho!”

Soon the ship was flooded by the sound of frantic footsteps. Everyone was excited to finally see their destination, Eleanor included. However, as she began to get up and put away some of her things, she heard a strange noise among the footsteps. The sounds of muskets firing, screams even. Eleanor shook it off, once again hoping her mind was playing a trick on her, until once again, she heard the word Croatoan. The feeling that overcame her was so powerful she almost screamed, but she stopped herself as she caught sight of her husband. 

“Eleanor, come on, we are going to dock soon. Finally, dry land!” He told her and grabbed her hands, “And not a moment to soon, our baby needs to be born on dry land. Now come up and see the New World!”

She smiled at her husband, he always seemed to calm her down when she needed it the most. “Of course dear, I will join in a moment,” she assured him as he rushed up to the deck. Before joining Ananias, Eleanor simply wrote down the word “Croatoan” on the inside cover of her diary. She then closed the small book and held it in her hand, not being able to rid herself of the feeling that something was about to happen. 

Eventually Eleanor walked onto the deck and she joined her fellow colonists as they all looked at the land in the distance. Never before had any of them seen such a mass space of land that was so unsettled by humanity. Of course they had all heard of the native “savages” that lived here, but they did not build cities like the Europeans did. This land would be theirs, to settle, and to prosper. However, among the colonists was the unsettling reality that such prospering came at a price, and that settling an untamed land would be costly. Nevertheless, at this moment, spirits were high, and everyone seemed optimistic about their future, everyone except Eleanor.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” John White asked his daughter as he stood by her side, snapping her out of her trance. “The New World, soon to be our new home, for the glory of England.” 

Eleanor smiled as she viewed the beautiful landscape. She then nodded at her father, “Indeed it is, I have never seen anything like it, but where is Roanoke? Weren’t we supposed to pick up a small group of soldiers that Walter Raleigh had left there?”

John nodded to his daughter as he looked at the approaching shore, “Yes, of course, the settlement is a bit inland, in order to hide from foreign invaders, but it is odd that the men did not come to greet our ship, they must be able to see us.”

“Perhaps they cannot see our flag, and fear we are Spanish?” Eleanor suggested to her father, “I am sure all is well with them.”

Soon the boat docked, and the colonists walked onto the shore, grateful to step foot on dry land. Still, no one from the small Roanoke settlement came to greet them, and many of the colonists were unsure what to do next. The navigator, Simon Fernandez, ordered the colonists to stay where they were at, and he, accompanied by a small group of men, would look for the contingent of soldiers. 

Eleanor watched as Simon entered the forest to find the small settlement. “I do hope they are alright,” said a voice who Eleanor recognized as Mary O’Reily, a young irishwoman who joined the expedition and had become one of Eleanor’s friends on the voyage. 

“Oh I am sure they are alright, just skittish at the threat that we might be Spaniards,” replied one of Eleanor’s other friends, Anne Roberts. Eleanor, Mary, and Anne had become close friends on the trip, and spent much of their time together, partly to the fact that Anne had a young daughter, and Eleanor and Mary were both expecting children, giving the three women a bond. 

“God willing,” Eleanor simply replied to her friends. She then held her stomach as she felt her baby kicking, “I am going to take a small walk along the beach, I won’t stray far.” 

Eleanor walked slowly down the beach, getting lost in thought and feeling her baby kick. It didn’t seem like much time passed at all until she stopped and turned to see how far from the group she’d walked. But when she turned around, the group was out of sight, in fact, Eleanor was no longer even on the beach, instead she was deep in the forest. She felt her heart pound in her chest, as she hastily tried to rush back to the group. She never could have predicted what she ended up finding.

She examined the small collection of houses, built in the European style, so she knew this was not a Native American village. She knew this had to be the settlement of the continent of men left at Roanoke, except there was not a person in sight. Eleanor did not know if she should enter the settlement, or just wait for Simon to arrive, but her instincts told her to enter.

Walking through the settlement, it was almost as if Eleanor could feel the strife, and hear the screams that once dominated this settlement. The wooden houses had scratches on them, but it couldn’t be from any sort of weapon, at least none that Eleanor had ever seen.  “Hello?” She called out in vain, hoping that someone was still around.

With no answer, she continued to walk around the small settlement, before spotting a house. She did not know what it was, but she felt compelled to enter the small house. As she pushed open the wooden door, it creaked loudly, and she once again heard the word “Croatoan”. She examined the door hinges before turning to look in the house. When she realized what she saw, she let out a loud shrieking scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

Eleanor stood there, screaming at the top of her lungs, her eyes not being able to look away from the sight of the body. Her screaming eventually faltered when she felt the arms of someone pull her out of the cabin. At first she was scared but after catching sight if the person, she realized it was her husband, who had followed her scream to find the settlement. She hugged him tightly and wept into him. "Eleanor," Ananias said to his weeping wife, "Why would you wonder off like that? Do you not realize how dangerous it is out here? Animals roam free, not to mention the savages!"

Eleanor nodded to her husband and began wiping away her tears, "Yes, I know, I know, but I did not mean to come this far. I was taking a small walk and before I knew it, I was here." She then began to observe the small settlement, regardless of the situation, this was a weird situation. Other than the body, there appeared to be no sign of trouble or struggle.

"Well at least we found the settlement, we must notify the others to come and join us," He responded to her before the rest of the search party investigated the scene, while others went off to bring the rest of the group to the settlement. 

Once everyone was gathered together, a debate ensured. Some wished to stay here, at Roanoke, and rebuild the settlement, seeing it as already partly completed, and favoring natural landscape of the area. On the other hand, many people wished to leave Roanoke and continue on to their initial destination. After much debate, their navigator, Simon, decided that they should rebuild Roanoke, and he refused to take them to Chesapeake Bay. 

So, the colonists hurried in their attempts to rebuild Roanoke. They started by building one cabin per family, and they were just in time, because about month after they landed at Roanoke, Eleanor gave birth to her daughter, Virginia Dare, who would the first English born child in the New World. Life for the colonists were not easy, they struggled to survive both the harsh climate, and the spread of disease. In fact, in early October of 1587, Eleanor's friend Mary lost her child due to a fever that had spread throughout the colony. As winter approached, they began to get even more desperate, their chances of survival looked slim, so the colonists insisted that Eleanor's father, John White, and a group of men return to England and ask the Queen, or even Sir Raleigh for some sort of aide. 

* * *

November 8, 1587

Eleanor watched as the men began loading up some supplies for their journey back to England. The voyage there and back could take months, and that was not accounting for the political turmoil that could possibly deter John White from getting the supplies he needed for the colony. In honesty, everyone knew that it could be years before they saw John White and the other men retuning to England. Eleanor, however, had a more grim thought as she watched her father prepare to leave, holding Virginia in her arms. For some reason, Eleanor had this feeling that she would never see her father again. She tried to expel these thoughts from her mind, but for the persisted nonetheless. With tears in her eyes, Eleanor hugged her father, "Please be hasty, the colony needs you, I still need you."

John smiled a bit at his daughter before kissing her forehead softly, "You do not need me anymore, my child. You have your husband, and a child of your own. I believe you can make it on your own, but I promise you I will return." 

Despite the confidence in her father's voice, Eleanor could not help but think that she was saying goodbye to her father for the last time. She stayed on the beach and watched until the boat was not longer visible on the horizon, and she knew then that there was no turning back. They were all here, alone, and vulnerable to whatever dangers this continent had in store. 

* * *

May 24, 1590

John White and his party left Roanoke a little over two and a half years ago, and the colony was much different than it was when they left them. Thanks to the assistant of some friendly Indians from the island of Croatoan, the colony was surviving, some would even say thriving. Eventually the colonists fell into a routine, and thought they missed those who left in 1587, they were no longer dependent on the assistance they assumed was on the way. Little did the colonists know, that due to English political issues, as well as the Spanish Armada, the boat was not on its way back yet. No one could possibly know what was going on an ocean away, no one except Eleanor, who was having vivid dreams of Spanish and English ships fighting on stormy seas. She keep these dreams to herself and her journal, however, because she knew no one would believe her, but they felt so real. When she was not dreaming about a naval battle, she still dreamed of there horses riding in the storms, and she even kept hearing rain, even when the skies were clear. For a while she shrugged it off, but more recently she began to grow concerned.

Nonetheless, Eleanor too fell into her routine of work, every day she would meet with her friends Anne, who was her neighbor, and Mary, who lived across form her, to do various chores, such as laundry, while Virginia played with Anne's eight year old daughter, Lucille.

Today was just as any other, Eleanor rose from her bed and got dressed in her work clothes, before getting Virginia up and doing the same with her as well. She then made her way outside to begin her daily chores. She watched as Mary carried a chair over from her house, as she did every morning, to work with Eleanor. As Mary approached, Eleanor glanced at the empty chair that was already in Eleanor's yard. "Mary, why do you carry your chair over here everyday if I already have an extra chair?" 

Mary placed her chair down and then sat down, before eyeing the empty chair, as if noticing it for the first time. "I... I do not know. I have always done it I suppose."

Both women both shrugged it off before they began to do their laundry and discuss various things, like they normally did, however the conversation seemed more stale than usual, as if something were missing. Eleanor could have sworn she would discuss motherhood tips over work, but that did not make any sense, since Mary did not have a child. Not to mention, that Virginia seemed a lot more needy today, constantly tugging on Eleanor's dress. "Virginia, for the last time, Mommy is working right now, I cannot play with you," she then turned to Mary, "Is it me or is she much more clingy to us today? I do not remember her ever bothering us like this before? What is different?"

"Perhaps she is just getting to that age, especially with no other playmates, she probably does spend her time with nothing to do," Mary replied as the women washed their clothes. 

"Mommy! Mommy! Doll!" Virginia cried, tugging at her mother's dress.

"Oh! That is what is different, you do not have your doll. Did you lose it?" Eleanor asked and Virginia nodded a bit. Eleanor then stood up and picked up her daughter before turning to Mary, "Excuse me while I find her doll so she will stop pestering us! She cannot stand to be separated from it, she even gave it a name. She calls it Allison." Mary nodded to her friend before Eleanor made her way inside to search for the doll. 

She searched obsessively for this doll, hoping to calm down Virginia's frantic tone, but after searching though the entirety of their small house, Allison was nowhere to be found. Then, Virginia began crying and pointing, "Mommy, mommy, doll there!"

Eleanor looked at where her daughter was pointing, and she was pointing out the window, to the house next to them. Eleanor looked at the house through the window and furrowed her brow. She could not recall anyone living there, but if that were the case, why would they build it? Why would they waste the resources to build a house for no one? Most of all, how did Virginia's doll end up there. Eleanor walked out side to speak with Mary, "Mary, do you wonder why we built that house for no oner to live in? Does not make much sense does it?"

Mary looked up then glanced out the house, as if this were her first time seeing it. She tilted her head a bit, then shrugged as she went back to work, "I do not know anything about what these men are doing. Perhaps it is a house for the sick? I really do not know, but I am sure it is there for a good reason."

Eleanor nodded and looked back over at the house, "Well Virginia says her doll is in there, so maybe she wandered in there one day, I am going to go look for it. I will be back," She replied to her friend before making her way to the neighboring house. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there is a huge time jump, but it is necessary for the story and I hope it makes sense! I do hope you are liking it thus far!


	4. Chapter 4

Eleanor slowly opened the door to the empty house, hearing small whispers from the creaking of the door, but she ignored them. Looking around the house, Eleanor saw no furniture, and no other signs of life. She then gently set down Virginia so that they could both look around a bit in hope of finding Virginia's doll named Allison. In honesty, this whole house creeped Eleanor out, so she hoped to find Allison soon and get out. As she searched through the house, she found the small doll, lying on a corner. "Oh Virginia, do not worry, I found her." She knelt down to pick the doll up but noticed something on the wall. Virginia stumbled over of Eleanor and grabbed doll from her mother's hand.

"Yay!" She exclaimed as she looked at her mother, who was staring intensely at the wall.

It was not a big deal, what Eleanor saw. In any other circumstances, this would be a normal thing to find in a house that is newly built, especially with kids present. However, this house was empty, so who wrote this? She traced her fingers over the wall carving which said "LR + VD".  Those were her daughter's initials, Virginia Dare. Virginia was not nearly old enough to know how to write, even her own initials. Meaning someone else had to have written them, but who would come into this house and write Eleanor's daughter's initials. "Virginia, did you write this?" she asked her daughter, knowing she could not reason with a child, but perhaps there was some clue. Virginia simply shrugged to her mother, not really paying attention to what was happening. "But if you did not write this, then who did?"

"Maybe it was the horse people," Virginia said simply to her mother as she sat down on the floor and began playing with her doll.

Eleanor turned around quickly and looked at her daughter, "What did you say?" She asked her, but she knew what her daughter had said. Horse people, but what did Virginia even know of horses? They had not brought any over in their voyage, meaning that Virginia had never even seen a horse, let alone knew what one was. Perhaps there was an explanation, after all, Virginia is a smart girl, maybe she heard her parents speaking of horse and confused them with something else. "We should get out of here." Eleanor stated before standing up and as she looked at the wall directly in front of her, her heart stopped. She saw another carving, a carving of a word that had been bothering her since they left for the voyage, bit she had not seen it in a while, she had almost forgotten about it. "CROATOAN". She did not know what it meant, the word was in reference to a nearby island that was inhabited by friendly Natives, she had learned that since landing here, but what did this mean? And how did she know of this word before ever reaching the New World? The fear, the anxiety, the weight of it all made her want to scream, but before she could, the door burst open.

"Eleanor, you were gone for a long time, so I came to come get you, is everything alright?" Eleanor turned to saw her friend, Mary, standing in the doorway, but not coming in to the house.

Eleanor looked at her friend and took a deep breathe before nodding. "Yes I am fine, it just took us a bit to find the doll that is all." Elenor then turned back to the wall to place at the carving of CROATOAN again, but it was gone. She then looked down at the carving of her daughter's initials, and that remained. This confused her even more than she already was. Eleanor had no idea what to do, so she picked up Virginia and simply walked back home with Mary.

* * *

 

Later that night, after work was done, and the sun had set, Eleanor was sitting at the table with her husband, eating a modest dinner like they usually did. Eleanor knew better than to share her visions directly with her husband, in fear of looking as if she were going crazy like her mother did. So she had to be a bit more subtle in her attempts to get to the bottom of the things she was seeing. Perhaps she was going crazy, but there was also something weird going on, something she nor anyone could explain. "Ananias, can I ask you something?"

Ananias took a bite of the food before leaning over to feed Virginia a small bite as well. He then nodded to his wife with a smile, "Of course my love, what is on your mind."

She looked out the window to see the empty house that was next to theirs, almost afraid that had vanished too. After turning back to her husband, she took a deep breathe, "Why did we build that house? The one next to us. No one lives there, it just sits, empty year round."

Ananias looked out the window to the house, as if noticing it for the first time as well. He pondered the question for a moment, as if trying to think of the reason that the colonists had built that house. "I am not sure actually, I am sure there was a good reason and perhaps we just do not need it anymore."

"But if you think of it, there was no real reason for it to be built, no one has lived there, yet we waisted materials, and man power to build an empty house," Eleanor said before standing up and clearing the table. She felt reinforced in her confusion, since none of the people she had talked to seem to remember the purpose behind that house either. Something was not right.

"What are you getting at?" Ananias asked his wife and raised his eyebrow suspiciously.

She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before she began to clean up the table once again, "Nothing. I guess I was confused, that is all," She replied, still unhappy with the answer she got, and still with many things weighing on her. "What do you know about Croatoan? Is there something special about that island?"

"It is a home to a friendly tribe of Indians," Ananias replied as he picked Virginia to take her to bed, "Your father instructed us, that if we were to ever get in to any danger here, that we should flee and go to Croatoan, where we'd be safe. My darling, what are with these questions?"

Finally, something to work with. However, Eleanor did not feel good. She was seeing the word that signaled the colony was in danger. She hoped for the sake of those she loved, that she was going crazy, for if she was not, then the colony was doomed. "It is nothing, I promise."

* * *

 

After falling asleep, Eleanor had the same dreams haunting her sleep, of the horsemen, and the storms. She woke up quickly and decided she needed some fresh air. She grabbed a shawl and made her way outside. She decided to take a small walk through their village to clear her head. as she walked, she noticed she had ended up behind the house that belonged to her friend Mary. Eleanor thought nothin of this and kept walking until she saw something she could not believe. IN front of her, was Mary's husband James, suspended in mid air, and gripping his neck, as if something were choking him. Her eyes widened, frozen in fear and disbelief. James and Eleanor made eye contact and he managed to get out the words, "Tell Mary. Tell Mary." Eleanor nodded, knowing that she needed to tell Mary about whatever was happening. However, instead of telling her right away, for some reason Eleanor went home and back to sleep, deciding to tell Mary in the morning. 

* * *

 

Eleanor woke up the next morning and quickly got dressed, in an urgent attempt to make it to Mary's as soon as possible. After she was ready she rushed across from the house and knocked on Mary's door, knowing she had to tell Mary the urgent news. "Mary, its me, Eleanor, open up!"

Mary opened the door and smiled, "Eleanor, I was just about to make my way over there, is everything alright?"

"Well I need to tell you something!" she said in a panicked voice, but as she was forming the words to say the news, it occurred to Eleanor she had no idea what she was going to tell Mary. It was as if she never had anything to tell her at all. "Well at least I thought I did, but now I.... I cannot remember."


End file.
